Just beyond sunrise, dew lay in shining throw rugs tossed over Townsville’s lawns and parkway, the sky above clear except for horizon-hugging clouds. To the north, white mounds of cumulus rose above stretched sheets of blue-grey stratus, while to the south, wisps of teased grey clung to the slopes and crown of Mount Stuart. I cycled the parkway hard, glorying in speed and the cool freshness that poured over me. Cicadas droned resonant songs, frogs belted out chugging rhythms, and the parkway birds bid the city a lively g’day. With the Ross River – the green heart of this city – beside me, I rode as far as Pioneer Park, wished I’d brought my swimsuit with me for a dip in the enticing, blue pool, and then turned homeward to double the 9-kilometre distance I’d already covered.
Parliament House, Canberra (© Magi Nams)
On my return to the house, I jumped into a whirlpool of preparations – for our garage sale on Saturday, for facilitating exit of our rental premises, and for our six-day excursion to the Australian national capital of Canberra, commencing Sunday. I flipped through the list of Canberra attractions I’d compiled earlier – Australian National Botanic Gardens, National Library of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, National Museum of Australia, Parliament House, the Australian War Memorial. I felt as though after nearly a year in this country, I would finally be meeting The Big Guys. The National Library holds Captain Cook’s log and journals of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition. Parliament House holds one of only a quartet of surviving copies of Magna Carta issued in 1297. The Botanic Gardens display the world’s largest collection of Australian native plants.
In addition to these cultural heavies, I had listed the Australian Institute of Sport and the walking trails of Black Mountain and Lake Burley Griffin, all handy to the Australian National University where Vilis will attend a nearly week-long meeting of the Ecological Society of Australia. Thinking of those walking trails, I perused a pocket guide to the birds of Canberra, noting species I’ve not yet seen – superb parrot, white-browed woodswallow, diamond firetail, yellow-rumped thornbill, blue-billed duck, speckled warbler, crescent honeyeater, and more – and scanned the handy Australian National Botanic Gardens checklist of birds and their habitats within the ANBG. After my birding blitzes in the Alice Springs and Daintree areas, I backed off, feeling as though I’d already observed a truly exquisite collection of Australia’s avifauna during the first ten months of my time in this country. Yet now, after a month of simply enjoying the familiar birds of Townsville, I’m ready for one last birding bash in Canberra. I’m gunning for gang-gang cockatoos, the males posssessing vivid red heads, for white-winged choughs with red eyes and curved bills, for tiny spotted pardalotes and those wee diamond firetails. So, bring on the culture, Canberra, and bring on the birds.
